Protective hood



B. SPOONER July 26, 1960 PROTECTIVE HOOD Filed Oct. 21, 1957 INVENTOR BERNARD SPOONER. DECEASED PEARL SPOONER. EXECUTRIX AND S. LAWRENCE ATKINS. EXECUTOR BY W 4* ATTORNEY? Unite States Patentj Ofiice Pearl Spooner, 817 West End Ave., and S. Lawrence J Atkins, executors, both of New York, N.Y., assignors to Pearl Spooner, New York, N-Y.

Filed Oct. 21, 1957, Ser. No. 691,321

2 Claims. (Cl. 2-3) The present invention relates to a protective hood in general and to such hood which lends itself to handling 7 p of bombs or the like in particular.

It has been recognized that the dismantling of bombs or similar objects creates inherently a potential danger of injuring the person handling the bomb or similar object. It is, therefore, one object of the present invention to provide a protective hood which not only gives suflicient Tl and safe protection to the head of the person handling a bomb or similar object as well as against bullets, but also permits easy mounting and removal, respectively, of such hood on the head of the person handling such object.

It is another object of the present invention to provide 1 a protective hood which comprises a front member consisting of a front panel and side panels, the latter being hingedly connected with the front panel and the front panel having a horizontally disposed slot to permit of vision through the front panel, straps being secured to 1".

the front panel and the side panels, respectively, to secure said panel to the head of the person handling the bomb or similar object.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a protective hood comprising a front member which consists of a front panel and two side panels and which includes a longitudinally and centrally disposed strap secured to the inner face of the front panel adjacent its upper end and extending rearwardly, to be secured to two cross straps connecting the rear ends of the side panels.

It is also a further object of the present invention to provide a protective hood which comprises a front member and a rear member, the front member consisting of a front panel and two side panels hingedly connected with said front panel and the rear member consisting of a rear panel and two side panels, the rear panel having at its top and the side panels at their rear edge a strap extending therefrom, the strap extending from the top of the rear panel being adapted to be hooked onto a complementary member of the front panel of said front member.

With these and other objects in view which will become apparent in the following detailed description, the present invention will be clearly understood in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the front member of the protective hood;

Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of the rear member of the protective hood, the side panels being turned over into the plane of the rear panel;

Fig. 3 is a section along the lines 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a section along the lines 4-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a section along the lines 55 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a section along the lines 6--6 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 7 is a section along the lines 77 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 8 is a perspective front view showing the front and rear members in joint operative position.

Referring now to the drawing, the protective hood comprises either a front member 1 only or a front member 1 which is joined with a rear member 2. Since the rear member 2 provides protection substantially from the rear, depending upon the particular situation, the front member 1 may sufl'ice.

Referring now to Figs. 1, 3 and 4, the front member 1 comprises a front panel 3 and two side panels 4 hingedly secured to the lateral edges of the front panel 3. .1

The front panel 3 consists of two parts 5 and 6, the :part 5 being disposed on top of the front panel 3 and the part 6 as the bottom part thereof, the top and bottom parts being slightly spaced apart from each other to create a slot 7 therebetween, which slot 7 is adapted to permit of vision through the front panel 3 upon using the protective hood. A comparatively narrow connecting piece 8 connects the tops part 5 with the bottom part 6 which connecting piece 8 simultaneously maintains the parts 5 and 6 at a predetermined distance from each'other to form the mentioned slot 7.

The side panels 4 are made integrally of one piece and are connected with the lateral edges of the front panel 3 by sewing or any other suitable means.

Each of the panels consists of two layers to form 'a pocket between the two layers and the pocket receives one or more steel plates of predetermined thickness to withstand and to protect the blast of a bomb or the like without substantial injury to the person handlingthe bomb or the blast. The front panel 3 has "in'addition 'to the steel plate 9 an inner layer 10 of a padding material in order to soften any shock impact on the face of the person handling the bomb or similar object. As clearly shown in Fig. 4, the side panels 4 are equipped likewise with a steel plate 11 and a layer of padding 12, the latter being disposed adjacent the inside layer of the ;side panels 4.

As clearly ascertained from Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawing, a center strap 13 of preferably elastic material, constituting first strap means, is secured to the inner face of the top part 5 of the front panel 3 and extending rearwardly and downwardly. Two straps 14, constituting second strap means, extend crosswise from the rear end of one of the said panels 4 towards the other of the side panels 4. The straps are permanently secured to the first side panel 4 and releasably secured to a fastener 15' mounted on the outer face of the other of the side panels 4. The straps 14 are also preferably made of elastic material to permit adjustment to the size of the head of the user of the hood. The center strap 13 is secured by sewing or any other suitable means to the two straps 14. While the two straps 14 are adapted to engage the rear of the head of the user, two additional straps 15, constituting third strap means, are permanently secured to the inner face edges of the side panels 4, which additional straps 15 are also made of rubber or other elastic material. The last mentioned straps are designed to engage the front of the head of the user of the hood and also function as a spacing means between the face of the user of the hood and the front panel 3, so that an appreciably large empty space is arranged between the face of the user and the front panel which will thereby soften the impact of any object thrown against the front panel.

While in some applications of the hood it will sufiice to protect the head of the user by the front and side panels 3 and 4, respectively, it is to be understood that for some applications it will also be required to provide protection Patented July 26, 1960 "the rear panel 16 which carries at its upper end astrap 23, constituting .fourth strap means, which is equipped with conventional means for adjusting itslength. An additional strap 24, constituting fifth strap means, projects laterally from the outer end of the side panels 17 and at least one of the straps 24 has conventional means for adjusting its length.

In case a rear member 2 is also used together with the front member 1, the top of the front panel 3 is equipped with a hook member 25 (Fig. 1) which is complementary to the connecting member 26 secured to the end of the strap 23. The ends of the straps 24 are also equipped with a hook 27 and the other strap '24 with a complement 28 so as to permit to connect the straps 24 in mounted and operative position of the rear member 2, which straps will in this case be disposed along the front face of the front panel 3 as shown in Fig. 8 which indicates the front member 1 wmbined with the rear member 2 in operative position.

While two embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed, it is to be understood that these embodiments are given by example only and not in a limiting sense, the scope of the present invention being 'determined by the objects and claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A protective hood comprising a front protective member consisting of a front panel having lateral edges and at least one side panel hingedly secured to each of said lateral edges of said front panel, said front panel comprising two individual portions spaced apart from each other to form a horizontal slot therehetween, means for connecting said portions in spaced apart position, all said panels including steel plates of predetermined thickness in order to withstand a bomb blast, first strap means secured tothe top of said front panel and extending rearwardly and downwardly, two second strap means disposed crosswise and parallel to each other and secured to the rear edge of said first side panels, said second strap means interlocking said first strap means, and two third strap means disposed crosswise and parallel to each other substantially at the same level as that of said second strap means, the latter being adapted to engage the back of the head of the user and said third strap means being permanently secured to the rear edges of said side panels and being adapted to engage the front of the head of the user in order to space apart said front panel from the face of the user of said hood, and a rear protective memher comprising a rear panel having lateral edges and at least one second side panel ldngedly secured to each of said lateral edges of said rear panel and engaging the corresponding one of said first side panels, and fourth strap means secured to the top of said rear panel and adapted to be releasably connected with the top of said front panel, and fifth strap means secured to the free front edges of said second side panels, the free edges of said fifth strap member being joined over the front face of said front panel to retain said rear protective member in operative position in connection with said front protective member.

2. The protective hood, as set forth in claim 1, wherein each of said panels comprises two layers to form a pocket and at least one steel plate inserted in said pocket and a padded layer disposed on the inside face of said steel plate within said pocket.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 780,899 Mogridge Jan. 24, 1905 1,185,158 Yovich May 30, 1916 1,861,797 Holt June 7, 1932 2,266,886 McCoy Dec. 23, 1941 

